One Mighty Problem
by mah29732
Summary: Owlman has teamed up with Skullmaster to trick Max into handing over his cap, but Owlman will have to gain his trust first, with the real Batman in a major distraction thanks to Skullmaster.
1. Owlman's Deal

One Mighty Problem

Chapter 1: Owlman's Deal

In the depths of the lair of Skullmaster, a sinister plot was unfolding as Owlman who had used his hi-tech technology to teleport himself to Skullmaster's world brought him a request he couldn't obviously refuse.

"You are but the nega version of the Batman, why have you come to my realm?" asked Skullmaster.

"Because there is something that both you and I need, the cap of the cap-bearer" continued Owlman.

"Indeed, I do need the cap-bearer's cap" continued Skullmaster who got up from his throne.

"So why don't you let me do the work in having it being handed right over to you without him knowing it?" asked Owlman.

Skullmaster sat back on his throne and thought about it for a moment.

"How is the real Batman not going to find out about this?" asked Skullmaster.

"He won't, we'll provide an easy distraction for him" continued Owlman, "your lava monsters should do nicely in destroying his Bat Cave."

"Then it should be done, you impersonate the Batman, and I send off my lava monsters to destroy the real Dark Knight" continued Skullmaster.

"The perfect plan indeed" said Owlman.

It was indeed a typical day in the Bat Cave for a certain Dark Knight who was doing some research on just common petty crime since most of the villains he had put away were already locked up in Arkham Asylum. The Dark Knight didn't noticed, that two lava monsters were spewing through the rocks beneath his Bat Cave and coming up to the surface point.

"Something doesn't feel right" said Batman as he then went to investigate.

As the Dark Knight went to investigate, he noticed his Batmobile was being melted into scrap metal by a lava monster.

"Hey, only you can stop this!" cried Batman as he then took out an extinguisher that was within the Bat Cave and used it on the first lava monster.

His Batmobile was heavily damaged because of the lava monster, yet that lava monster was just a distraction as another lava monster was destroying his main computer console.

"No!" cried Batman.

As the Dark Knight raced to try to defend his computer console, the lava monster then began to throw lava fireballs at the Dark Knight, forcing the Dark Knight to be pinned down by some metal that wasn't burnt yet by the lava monster. While the Dark Knight was being occupied, it was a typical day for Max after he finished school, he headed home, not knowing that a lava monster popped right up from the ground and began to follow him.

"Is it me or is it a bit too hot here" said Max.

As he turned around, he gasped with fright as the lava monster came toward him.

"Alright, you better not come any closer, any minute now Norman will come to stop you" said Max.

Yet for poor Max, it wasn't sadly so, that is until the pseudo Dark Knight which was really Owlman in disguise came right in and used a heat proof gloves to fight the lava monster.

"Batman?" cried Max who was shocked by his appearance.

"Relax kid, I shall handle it" said Owlman.

As the pseudo Dark Knight quickly made the lava monster just simply "run away", Max was impressed with the pseudo Dark Knight as he thought he was the real deal Batman.

"Whoa, you fought off Skullmaster's minion like that!" cried Max with excitement.

"There is something I need to talk to you about, I know your secret, but don't worry I won't tell anyone else about your hat" continued Owlman.

"Hey, I guess you must have recognized my deeds while you were in that Bat Cave of yours" said Max, "come on, I'll show you to Virgil and Norman, they wouldn't want to miss this."

Norman and Virgil were indeed right behind the corner as Virgil could detect that Skullmaster had sent one of his lava monsters after Max again.

"Thank goodness you're okay" said Virgil.

"Virgil, Norman, this is Batman!" cried Max with excitement.

"He doesn't look that tough to fight" said Norman.

"I must say, you look a bit different from what you look like in the news" said Virgil.

"Please, the pleasure is all mine, there is something I'd prefer to talk to you trio about, it's about Max's hat" continued Owlman, "I know his secret, and one hero to another, I would like to use it to fight a sinister villain."

Virgil thought for a moment or two to why even this supposed Dark Knight didn't bother to name the villain. Aside from that, being different from what he really should look like in person.

"I think we can take you on an adventure or two just so that I can see that you're the right type" said Virgil.

"What?" cried Norman who obviously didn't trust the pseudo Dark Knight.

"You heard me" said Virgil as he then took out his scroll, "come this way Max, you'll be showing your other hero the ropes."

"Alright, me and the Dark Knight, fighting side by side!" laughed Max with excitement.

"And here I thought you liked it when I did it" said Norman who was obviously jealous.

"Oh come on, how many times have you been around a local celebrity like him?" asked Max.

"Quite a number of times" continued Norman.

"Really?" said Max who obviously was a bit too blinded by the pseudo Dark Knight's presence.

As the four stepped toward an area where Virgil looked at the scroll, Max's hat began to have a bright glow on it as a portal was going to open up. But as the four were going to step right inside toward the portal's destination, meanwhile back in the Bat Cave, the real Dark Knight was literally seeing the destruction of his entire Bat Cave by the lava monster that seemed to be unstoppable.

"Whoever is behind this indeed lives in quite a warm place" said Batman.

As the Dark Knight geared up to fight the lava monster to save what was left of his Bat Cave, Max, Virgil, Norman and the pseudo Dark Knight headed toward Egypt where an sinister priest was raising an army of Egyptian mummies from the dead.


	2. Gaining Trust

Chapter 2: Gaining Trust

As the four arrived in Egypt, a crazy mad priest was bent on raising an army of mummies within the pyramids.

"Yes, yes, that's right" said the priest as he raised his staff.

As the mummies rose from their coffins, it was just in the nick of time did the four came into the scene.

"Alright pal, you're going down!" shouted Max in a defiant mood.

"Ha, you're too late cap-bearer, I already have a handful of mummies at my command" laughed the priest, "mummies, destroy the cap-bearer!"

As the mummies charged at the four, both Norman and the pseudo Dark Knight got in front of Virgil and Max to defend themselves from the mummies. Owlman used some Baterangs at the mummies slicing them into pieces, while Norman typically took out his sword and did the same. The crazy priest ran for his life heading toward the center of the pyramid.

"Quickly, we must stop him!" cried Virgil.

"We're on it" said Owlman as he along with Norman gave chase to the priest.

Max watched with excitement as he saw his hero what was thought to be Batman in action, as the pseudo Dark Knight managed to knock each mummy into dust, Norman wasn't still going to trust the pseudo Dark Knight as he felt he wasn't the real Batman.

"You must want Max's cap pretty bad" said Norman as he sliced a mummy that was charging at the two.

"I need it to save someone from another time" continued Owlman who was told by Skullmaster what the cap did.

"Look pal, you're going to have to give me more details than that" continued Norman, "I am sure if you are Batman, you wouldn't need Max's cap to go through time."

The pseudo Dark Knight was quite silent as he kept on destroying mummies that were coming toward the two, it was time that the four reached the center of the pyramid where the priest was going to steal a rare jewel from the pyramid.

"Stop him!" cried Virgil.

"I'll do even better than that" laughed Owlman as he took out another baterang, he then threw it at the priest aiming right at the magical staff that he was carrying, striking the crystal that was on top.s

"No, the crystal, my mummy army!" cried the priest.

"You're mummies belong to the dust of history" said Owlman who was trying to mimic what the real Batman would say.

"See Norman, he is the real Batman" said Max as he knew Norman was still a bit jealous.

"I supposed Batman would say something like that" continued Norman.

"I'll take things from here" said Owlman, "since I am the expert at this."

"I think we can trust you now" said Virgil.

But as the trio were going to trust the pseudo Dark Knight, the real Dark Knight was still fighting off a lava monster who was tearing up his Bat Cave.

"I don't know where you spewed from, but this is no place for a volcano pal" said Batman.

That obviously only angered the lava creature as it began to continue to fire fireballs at the Dark Knight, Batman was able to dodge them with ease, and noticed the inventory of Mr. Freeze's freeze gun that would fit nicely to stop the lava monster. Batman indeed took the freeze gun and began to use it on the lava monster, along with freezing the hot lava that was around his Bat Cave.

"Now let's see where you came from" said Batman as he was going to do some samples of the lava monster that was entrapped within the ice.

As the Dark Knight was analyzing it, he noticed that the lava monster literally came from beneath the Earth, but just where exactly was the precise problem, so the Dark Knight headed toward another one of his vehicles to pin point the location of where it was possible the lava monster came which was right smacked where Skullmaster's lair really was. It was a digging vehicle that the Dark Knight had created which was going to be quite suitable for this event.

"Time to start digging on this big problem" said Batman as he pressed the buttons on the console.

As the digging machine started its engine, the Dark Knight headed down into the depths of the Earth, along with ensuring that the lava monsters if there were more would not be able to lead back to the Bat Cave, he carefully covered up his tracks behind him. But as the Dark Knight was digging closer to Skullmaster, the pseudo Dark Knight had gained the trust of Virgil, with Norman still not believing a word of this so-called Batman.

"I don't know, perhaps we should really make sure he's saving a life" said Norman to Virgil.

"Now, now we can't judge a book by its cover, but rather look within the pages of it" said Virgil.

"Well, I still say we shouldn't give Max's cap to the guy, something doesn't feel right" said Norman.

"Mr. Batman" said Virgil as Max kneeled before the pseudo Dark Knight and humbling handed over his cap.

"It would be quite a pleasure in doing business with you" said Owlmana s he was about to take Max's cap.

"Not so fast pal" said Norman.

"Norman, he's Batman, we can trust Batman with my hat" said Max.

"No way kid, you're the cap-bearer, you're NEVER supposed to surrender your cap no matter who it is" continued Norman.

But as Norman was going to prevent Max from giving up his cap to the pseudo Dark Knight, the pseudo Dark Knight had something in his inventory as he then threw what seemed like a smoke bomb around the trio, even ending up taking Max's cap in the process.


	3. Help from Above

Chapter 3: Help from Above

It seemed like Max felt like he was deceived by his hero the Dark Knight after retrieving his cap from his head after he had disappeared. Virgil soon discovered that one of his scrolls was also missing as well in the fiasco.

"I hate to be the one to say I told you so kid, but now doesn't seem to be the time, we may have to go the long way out of here" said Norman.

"There's no way my mom can pay for all of us to get out of Egypt!" cried Max.

"I speculate someone will be coming to our rescue soon enough" said Virgil.

Virgil was right on that, it was just then that Booster Gold, his sidekick Skeets and the Red Tornado were patrolling the area when the three noticed Max, Virgil and Norman below.

"Wow, Skeets, doesn't it seem like they just lost a battle?" asked Booster Gold.

"Maybe not a battle it was lost, but the war" continued Skeets.

"I say we go in an investigate" added the Red Tornado.

As the three landed where Max, Norman and Virgil were, Max was very disappointed at what happened to him.

"Hey kid, our rides are here" said Norman referring to the trio of heroes.

"How can Batman do this to me?" cried Max.

"Batman was responsible for whatever went wrong here?" asked Red Tornado who was shocked about this, "This is rather interesting, because we've been trying to contact Batman all day and his Bat Cave just so happens to be mostly destroyed."

"Don't you see, it couldn't have been Batman all along!" added Norman who felt right about the pseudo Dark Knight.

"Where ever you may have to go in a hurry, we'll take you there now" said Skeets.

"I do not think you'll be able to understand where or how we'll be getting there" said Virgil.

"Don't worry we'll improvise" continued Booster Gold.

As Booster Gold along with the Red Tornado helped Max, Norman and Virgil up heading back to Max's place, back beneath the Earth, the Dark Knight was getting closer to the source of what caused trouble at his Bat Cave.

"Hmm, that's an odd place" said Batman as he read the scanners on the computer console on the digging machine.

As the digging machine made its way toward its destination, the Dark Knight had literally arrived in the depths of Skullmaster's domain, so as the hatch opened up for the digging machine, the Dark Knight quickly scouted out the area.

"Let's see who lives down here" said Batman.

After a few more minutes, Batman noticed a portal opening up not far from where he was, so he ran toward behind some rocks hiding from whoever was exiting from the portal. As the Dark Knight gazed, it was none other than his arch foe Owlman in his own Batman disguise holding some odd red cap with an M on it which looked familiar to Batman as he read about it as well. Batman carefully followed his arch foe in the hopes of not being seen by him, and ended up following him to a large throne room where Skullmaster was awaiting Owlman's return.

"Just like the way we planned it" said Owlman who was about to hand over the cap to Skullmaster.

"Give me the cap so that I can be set free from this domain!" roared Skullmaster.

"Not so fast there" continued Owlman, "I might want to hang onto this cap unless you cut me a deal."

"What kind of a deal?" asked Skullmaster who was getting rather impatient.

"A deal that'll let me become the world's best thief and harden criminal with this cap" continued Owlman.

"Bah, you don't know any of the scrolls that tell the locations to go to, like I do!" continued Skullmaster, "I was taught by the best!"

"Maybe you should have studied a bit more" said Owlman who was threatening his soon to be former ally a challenge.

Skullmaster grew quite red hot anger at Owlman for not handing over the cap of the Mighty One.

"Listen to me, there is no way even someone like you can escape my domain in one piece alone!" laughed Skullmaster, "Either you hand me the cap or I'll take it from your cold dead hands!"

As Skullmaster took out his sword and was about to raise it at Owlman, a Baterang came out of nowhere and knocked the sword right off his hand.

"The only hands the cap belongs too is it's rightful owner, not neither one of you!" continued Batman.

"Batman, hmm, I must say you were able to elude my lava monsters quite easily" continued Skullmaster.

"You're also going to pay for the destruction of my Bat Cave" continued Batman.

"Let's find out how you two will deal with some of my stone warriors" said Skullmaster as a few of them literally sprouted up from the ground.

Batman knew he needed to get that cap back to its rightful owner and away from Owlman, but first the two needed to escape from the large stone warriors that were coming toward them.

"How the heck did you get into this mess?" cried Batman to Owlman.

"Hey, I wanted to us the cap for my own purposes, helping Skullmaster using his minions against you and retrieve the cap would have been killing two birds with one stone" said Owlman.

"Well, you're a lousy thrower" continued Batman.

As the two continued to be chased by the stone warriors, it only took a few more minutes for Booster Gold, Skeets and the Red Tornado to arrive back at Max's house in no time with Virgil, Norman and Max.

"Wow, you guys are pretty fast" said Max, "maybe I should use you three for transportation instead of my cap."

"We need to get to your destination quickly if you say where I think you're saying your location might be" continued the Red Tornado to Virgil.

"Of course, follow me" said Virgil.


	4. Escaping Skullmaster

Chapter 4: Escaping Skullmaster

Both Owlman and the Dark Knight were still being chased by Skullmaster's stone warriors as they were enclosing in on their hiding locations.

"Find them you fools!" ordered Skullmaster.

As the stone warriors were literally wrecking the place to see where the two might be, back in Max's house, Booster Gold, Skeets and the Red Tornado were led to where the basement of the house was located.

"So you're saying that this Skullmaster guy's place is below here?" asked Booster Gold to Virgil.

"That is correct, but we do not have the cap to transport us there" said Virgil.

"Don't worry, we said we'd improvise" said Booster Gold as he began to fire his laser into the ground trying to make a hole.

"Mom's going to kill me for this!" cried Max.

"Don't worry, we'll have other Justice League members come here to clean up" said the Red Tornado who joined in with Booster Gold.

As they were making their way toward Skullmaster's lair, back in Skullmaster's lair, the stone warriors had nearly destroyed all the rocks in their sight except for a particular rock which both the Dark Knight and Owlman were hiding.

"Give me the cap, I can handle them" said Batman.

"And give up being the world's greatest criminal, no way" said Owlman.

Batman then began to struggle with Owlman, but their struggling caught the attention of the stone warriors.

"Looks like trouble" said Batman.

The stone warrior raised its stone fist and tried to smash the Dark Knight, but the Dark Knight was able to dodge the stone warrior in the nick of time. Another stone warrior tried to do it to Owlman, but Owlman was able to dodge it as well.

"Try this on for size" said Batman as he threw a Baterang that attached itself to the stone warrior which was really an explosive Baterang that had a timer on.

The timer went off, and the stone warrior fell to pieces because of the explosion.

"Get them, get them now!" ordered Skullmaster.

One by one, the Dark Knight threw his explosive Baterang at the stone warriors and each one exploded into pieces.

"Face it, it's over Skullmaster, you lost" said Batman.

"I don't think so Batman!" laughed Skullmaster as he raised his staff.

Skullmaster knocked both Batman and Owlman to the ground.

"I shall make you especially you pay for what you did!" roared Skullmaster to Owlman.

Skullmaster then tried to use his staff again to knock down Owlman, but Owlman was able to dodge the attack.

"I think we can both take him on" said Batman to Owlman.

"Fine" said Owlman, "I'll provide the distraction."

Owlman then displayed the cap in his hand to which Skullmaster eyed on the cap.

"Yes, the cap, it will soon be mine, as soon as I destroy you!" laughed Skullmaster.

Skullmaster charged at Owlman, but as he began to give chase, as the two were coming around the corner, Batman had setup his grappling hook as a way to trip Skullmaster, as Owlman went over the rope, Batman grabbed the end and pulled to which Skullmaster fell flat on his face.

"Bah, you shall pay for this!" cried Skullmaster as he got up.

But as Skullmaster was about to charge at the two, Booster Gold, along with the Red Tornado who made a hole through the basement of Max's house came crashing down with Max, Virgil and Norman there with them.

"Looking for us?" asked Max.

"You!" cried Skullmaster.

"Hey pal, I wouldn't touch him if I were you" said Booster Gold.

Booster Gold fired one blast at Skullmaster sending him flying right up in the air, to which the Red Tornado zoomed right into action and like his name shake, created a tornado that spun around Skullmaster around, and around sending him flying across the entire area crashing right on the wall.

"I'll be taking this" said Norman as he snatched it from Owlman to which he turned to the real Batman, "so, you must be the real Batman, not like Mr. Phony over there."

"Don't worry, I'll explain once we get to the surface" said Batman.

Indeed, it wasn't going to look good for Owlman, as Booster Gold and the Red Tornado had him in handcuffs, the real Dark Knight decided the right thing to do to help repair his image with Max was go also be in a photo up with him.

"Can you take photos?" asked Batman to Norman.

"Er, kind of" replied Norman as he was given a camera by Batman, "just press the red button when the green light turns on."

As Max got into position with the real Dark Knight, Norman indeed took the photo of the two. As the photo quickly developed, Batman knew it was a picture perfect photo to which the scene ends from there.


End file.
